Great article about Fr. Roy Bourgeois vs. School of the Americas

[DemBones DemBones]

http://www.counterpunch.org/hodge01112005.html

I'd never heard about this adventure, in which he and another priest and a nun put their lives in danger to get the Christian message of Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero out to Salvadorean troops training at SOA. Talk about activism!

[AngryOldDem]

1. And they do it every year

...at least Fr. Roy does.

The SOA is a shameful outfit that needs to be shut down. Period. I have a friend who also goes down there every year (the weekend before Thanksgiving), and has met Fr. Roy -- she says he is an amazing man. She says the protests are still peaceful (they march, sing, have seminars), but the local cops and feds are getting more aggressive every year about handling protesters. Every year the restricted area grows around Ft. Benning. It used to be they could come almost right up to the gate. Now, they have to do what Fr. Roy did -- which makes the risk of arrest and severe penalties even more likely. My alma mater (a Marianist school) sends a couple of busloads down every year as well. I believe it has had some students arrested as well.

In what I see as a very cynical move, SOA has had a name change to something that sounds more high-falutin' and nicer, but what it does still stinks. Most of these military tactics that these armies learn for "national defense" are all-too-often used against local citizens, and are nothing more than torture.

Bills have been introduced in Congress looking to cut the funds for SOA. I'm not sure how they've progressed. With the GOP in control, however, I can pretty much guess.

Thanks for posting that. I think I'll get the book.

[DemBones DemBones]

3. I saw a documentary about him on LINK but it didn't tell about this

cloak and dagger sort of effort. I just loved it! I'm thinking about the book myself.

[struggle4progress]

2. Thanks. I didn't know this particular story.